actletpone

Maybe? Was thinking an older + rougher 320 could probably still be picked up for that.

Mostly asking about e30's, but would be interested to hear about e36's too. Has anyone here ran an e30 in the 2k cup?, just interested to know how they hold up against the other cars?

Each to their own, but I would fail to justify the price difference of $5,500 between the two. Sure it needs a little tidy up, if it has been thrashed however... As the saying goes at the end of the day they are worth what someone is prepared to pay and true mint original examples are hard to find.

For the hunters: Saw this pop up the other day, e30 325i manual, $4.5-5.5K. Looks alright. http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/bmw/auction-878411698.htm This Tech 2 looks good too, $12K http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/used-cars/bmw/auction-845200909.htm

Think your inbox if full, pm me

M20 885 head?

Was watching this too. Seems high but maybe a sign of the times. I saw a non m and non SE e30 go for $7,900 a few weeks earlier. A few weeks prior to that a non m and non se engine swapped/ripped seat e30 with two decent yet fixable rust holes went for $3,300. Highest I have ever seen for a standard e30 was a few years ago, $13k for a burgundy 325 se which had done about 50,000 km.

Have a e30 moulded dash mat to sell. Basically brand new only been on car 2 weeks. Shevron brand, grey colour. Advertised as UV stabilised high grade polyester, won't shrink fade or distort. I am impressed with these mats, they fit well, only reason for sale is I decided on a different colour. Photo is of actual item. $65 shipped via nz parcel post with tracking. First in first served. SOLD SOLD SOLD

Looks like it will be a nice car with a bit of love. If I had the space..

M325i? Or just an m body kit

Next I removed the hot air intake setup by plumbing the miller maf into the original air box. Original air box + afm meter adaptor + silicone reducer + bolts.. I got the 'e30 air flow meter adaptor' off ebay for $15. It is meant to be for connecting a pod filter to the stock afm, however in reverse it works great for plumbing the original air box into the maf. The silicone reducer 3" to 2.75" ID and 3" long. It also has a 5mm 4-ply reinforced thickness which is good considering it is going to be under vacuum. You need to remove the little positioning pins on the air box to allow the adapter to sit flush. I decided to carefully line up the holes and drill through the adapter to help keep it in the right place. Not that it should go anywhere with 4 bolts holding it, just being fussy really. Some adapter plates don't have the square shape, notice how this one matches the outlet on the air box. Nice... The bracket bit for the stock afm on the air box had to be cut off to make room for the maf plug.. It turned out just as clean and tidy as I hoped it would Feels better knowing I'm not sucking air from the middle of the engine bay anymore too.

I don't agree with that line in every circumstance but in this one I do. The IRD are chasing TradeMe users details looking for people who should be paying tax i.e people who have been purchasing items with the intent of reselling them and making a profit. Why is that an issue unless you have been doing so without paying the required tax? Privacy? It's not like the IRD don't already know your address etc and their not going to be interested in what you have been buying / selling unless they have reason to. Whether we should have to pay as much tax as we are required to is a separate issue.

Just because a seller is not titled as a trademe store doesn't mean they are not a genuine seller, nor does it mean they don't keep their books tidy / evade tax. To be a trademe store you have to have pay a minimum of $150 in trademe success fees each month. There is also a minimum store setup fee of $399 and a $79 monthly fee to maintain your store status. To some sellers after success fees and everything else it simply isn't worth it. In regards to the original question, if you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear. Trademe are concerned about the clients best interest because every dollar they don't receive in fees from sellers who are evading tax is one less dollar of revenue.

Next up I gave it a valve adjustment and managed to drop the drill bit I was using to rotate the eccentrics down Into the sump. There is no way my nerves would of been ok with leaving it there. I also had a spare sump gasket + fresh oil + filter waiting to go in the car. I was dreading the sump gasket job but it was honestly easier than I thought it would be. Loosened the motor mounts + gearbox mounts, jacked motor up using the AC bracket, unbolted + lowered the pan then unbolted the oil pump to pull the pan out. Checked the oil pump strainer while I was in there but it was mostly clean.

It seems to be a genuine non sunroof 325. I did not know there was such a thing. I guess it comes from the mix matching of parts they did with the sa models, like the m30 sa e30's.

http://www.trademe.co.nz/a.aspx?id=859583185 Spotted this on trademe. Please someone buy it before I start browsing grab-a-seat deals

Cheers. Rocker cover was done with Dupli-Color Engine Enamel Low Gloss Black. Headers were done with VHT Flame Proof Flat Black. I used the on-vehicle curing instructions of the header paint, idle for 10 minutes, cool for 20 etc. Consequently this was used for the valve cover too. It also worked in well with checking the motor over after reassembly. Both surfaces were degreased and prepared with por15 metal ready prior to painting. Followed coating instructions to a 'T'. No problems after 1 month and counting.

The oily cooling reservoir, oil leak down the exhaust side of the block and branding on the exhaust heat shields all made me suspicious that a victor reinz head gasket kit had been used during the head replacement. Each to their own, the rest of their gaskets may be fine but issues with the vr head gasket on the m20 are reasonably well documented. So head gasket replacement it was... Despite a bit of sludge reappearing in the reservoir the coolant drained from the motor was clean. Bubbles are from a detergent. There is a chance the oil in the reservoir was just excess from in the lines, who knows, decided to press on. Check out the split that was on the underside of the fuel supply hose ... Bores still had cross hatching on them Took the opportunity to clean everything up a bit. Degreased the engine bay, flushed out all the cooling lines, also painted the headers and valve cover... Cleaned up the surfaces, head checked fine with a straight edge and couldn't see any signs of cracking. Never had temp problems in the time i've owned it. Fairly sure my hunch on the vr head gasket was right, so far so good. New Goetze head gasket.. Cam seal replacement.. To do the camshaft seal I sat the bolt hole parts of the holder on the two bots of wood then carefully tapped it out. Then used the old seal to carefully tap the new one in. Reassembly... All nice and clean...

I don't miss the rust trap. Same reason I was so keen to build my non sunroof 320 into a 325

Next I started working on the motor. Car had a brand new cylinder head at 192,000 k's and new cambelt / waterpump etc at 225.000. I got it in the early 240's. After flushing out the coolant when I bought it the oil slowly came back into the reservoir. Compression tested it with perfect results and flushed it out again, but once again it slowly came back. Other notes about the motor: Oil leaks: Oil cooler o-ring, sump plug, cam seal, valve cover and head gasket leaking down the exhaust side of the block. Vacuum leaks: Previous owner left air-con button on to get it idling properly. Miller maf. Wires for the maf were only twisted together when I got the car but have been soldered now. Pod filter a.k.a hot-air-intake General dirtiness. Although I do have a thing for clean engine bays. This is how the engine bay looked when I got it...

Cheers! The entire underside of the roof got the por15 treatment for good measure

I have never welded or painted a car before and this was not a job to be learning on. So I pulled off the trim and left it to the pro's. The instruction was to weld in the sunroof panel and sand back+rust treat+repaint the outer roof. They did a good job.... No rust was found around the front or rear windows either

Picked up this from pick-a-part. It was siliconed into the roof. I actually cut it out while on my lunch break a few weeks earlier but didn't have the tools to remove it. Luckily it was still there. No rust bubbles... Ground it back to be sure, All good... Lets see what the inner skin is like.. This is a much easier way of separating the sunroof skin from its frame. Grind out the bottom of the spot welds and then use a knife/screw driver to work your way around splitting the seam. Once the seam has been split work a knife/wall paper scraper from the inner foam part towards the outside edge to separate the glue. Inner skin was good. Only minor rust at the edges. Stripped..(ignore the black dot from my stupid phone) Por15 Metal ready Por15

This was the top of the sunroof panel. It had the usual rust bubbles along the edge but didn't look too bad. Out came the angle grinder.. Weight reduction. I'm not sure exactly how much the whole sunroof assembly weighs. I would guess at least 10kg including motor etc, which is a good thing to remove from the highest point of the car. This is when I split the inner sunroof skin of the panel. I saw a picture online somewhere, where someone had carefully used an angle grinder to cut it all the way around without cutting through the roof skin. I would not recommend doing it this way, it took ages. Inner sunroof skin.. Rust is like an iceberg, you only see the tip. The inner sunroof skin was too far gone. As well as being heavily pitted these are the holes I poked in it with a screw driver.

Sure looks nice